6-0 Lions headed to the AFLW grand final

The Brisbane Lions have booked their place in the first ever AFLW grand final with a hard fought 7 point victory over a gutsy Western Bulldogs team.

An inaccurate Lions almost kicked themselves into their first loss of the season, but held on to win 2.11.23 to 2.4.16.

From the first siren it was clear the Bulldogs were up for the contest as they dominated the early part of the game in a low-scoring opening quarter.

Brisbane put the foot down in the second quarter kicking 2.4 to no score to lead by 17 points at halftime. It looked like the Lions were going to run away with the game and if they had have kicked straighter, the game may have been over at halftime.

The third quarter saw the Bulldogs fight back with a couple of goals to Jaimee Lambert. They were lead in the quarter by Emma Kearney who managed to find the ball 11 times.

As the last quarter got underway, the Bulldogs only trailed by 4 points and were looking to do what 5 other AFLW teams have failed to do – beat the Brisbane Lions.

Unfortunately for them, the ball went into their defence and didn’t come out. Brisbane forced the Bulldogs into rushed kicks out of defence and could’ve put the game away, but couldn’t find the big sticks.

As the time counted down, two pieces of individual brilliance from Emily Bates sealed the win for the Lions.

Trailing by less than a goal, the Bulldogs looked to launch a counter attack to steal the game.

Standing in their way on the outer win was Bates who laid a crunching tackle to win a free kick and keep the ball in the Lions’ forward half.

The other moment was a courageous contested mark in the dying seconds to seal Brisbane’s sixth victory from six games and a grand final berth.

Final score
Brisbane Lions 2.11 (23)
Western Bulldogs 2.4 (16)